One type of sender that is used in motor vehicles comprises a resistor card that is disposed in a fuel tank in a manner that exposes it to whatever fuel is used by the vehicle (gasoline and/or alcohol for example), including fuel additives, sour gas, and/or contaminants. The sender is operated by a float that follows the level of liquid fuel in the tank. As the float assumes different levels within the tank, its motion is transmitted by a float rod, or arm, to a contact arm, causing a contact on the arm to move along a succession of commutator bars extending from locations along the length of a resistor track printed on a resistor card, thereby selecting a portion of the resistor in correlation with the level of the float. The selected portion provides a variable resistance that is electrically connected with instrumentation that operates a fuel gauge that can be observed by the driver. The float rod is mounted for pivotal movement via a bearing, and the float is disposed at an end of the rod opposite the bearing. As the float moves, the rod imparts pivotal motion to the contact arm, causing its contact to move in an arc along the succession of commutator bars, changing the value of the variable resistance as it moves. In that design for a resistive type fuel level sender, the commutator bar contact produces a result similar to a contact moving in an arc along a potentiometer or variable resistor track, changing the value of the variable resistance as it moves.
The force that the contact is able to apply against the resistor on the resistor card is important in enabling the sensor to provide a service life that will meet relevant specifications. Over the life of a sender the force that the contact exerts on the resistor may vary for one or more different reasons, such as fuel slosh in the tank and/or looseness in the bearing. The use of a silver palladium alloy as the resistor commutator may reduce the effects of those factors. Nonetheless the contact may at times lose contact with the resistor, creating a momentary open circuit. Events that may cause such open circuits include intrusion of foreign particles between the contact and the resistor, corrosion of the commutator, oxidized fuel coating, and high-G loads experienced by the sender. Momentary open circuits create excess wear on the contact and the resistor commutator.
A sender that precludes those undesirable possibilities and that meets certain cost objectives is therefore seen to be a desirable improvement.
The durability and accuracy of a fuel sender are also important, especially where a motor vehicle manufacturer warrants a fuel system and/or its components either for legal compliance and/or by competitive considerations. Failure to meet relevant compliance criteria can expose a motor vehicle manufacturer to costly penalties and/or warranty claims.
Accordingly, it is believed that a sender that provides both increased durability and accuracy over an extended period would be a significant improvement in the state of the art.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,739,641 and 4,987,400 describe gauges having magnetically driven senders in which the contacts are housed within sealed enclosures. The gauge of U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,641 is sealed against intrusion of volatile vapors that may accumulate from many sources and might ignite from a spark. An example given is in the bilge of a marine vessel. The gauge of U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,400 is said to be ultrasonically sealed for withstanding at least eight inches of mercury pressure differential. Both patents teach the use of an external magnet driving a magnet internal to the enclosure where the magnet is rotated by a coupling to a float. The enclosure materials are not selected to be highly impermeable to fuel or fuel vapors, only sufficient to prevent spark ignition.
Considerations in the prevailing design of motor vehicle fuel systems either tacitly or explicitly mandate that the fuel sender be contained within the fuel tank where it may at times be immersed in liquid fuel. A contact-containing enclosure that is external to a tank, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,739,641 and 4,987,400, is not seen to be suitable for placement in a fuel tank of a motor vehicle where it must withstand immersion in a hostile liquid fuel that can at some times be quite hot and at others, quite cold, and that may contain various contaminants, additives, foreign substances, etc.
Accordingly, it is believed that an in-tank fuel sender for a motor vehicle that maintains its accuracy when exposed to liquid fuels, especially liquid fuels like gasoline, over an extended period would be another significant improvement in the state of the art.
Prevailing fuel system design practices in the automotive industry employ a fuel pump module that is assembled into a fuel tank, typically through an opening in a top wall of the tank that is subsequently closed. A fuel sender is typically part of the fuel pump module. Certain of the known systems comprise a fixed mounting of the sender in an assembly that is installed in a tank. The assembly has a construction that forces its lower end against a bottom wall of the tank thereby bodily positioning the sender within the tank relative to the bottom wall.
Accordingly, an in-tank fuel sender that can be conveniently assembled into fuel pump modules is also seen as desirable.
Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 10/373,955, filed 26 Feb. 2003, discloses a novel fuel sender for a motor vehicle fuel tank that possesses features and characteristics that render the sender suitable for in-tank placement in a motor vehicle fuel system where it is exposed to liquid fuel, including convenient mounting on a fuel pump module; that endow the sender with continued accuracy over an extended period, enabling it to comply with increasingly stringent specifications; and that make the sender quite cost-effective considering the increasingly stringent demands that may be imposed on it by motor vehicle manufacturers.
The disclosed embodiment of that Application comprises a central hub comprising a sealed enclosure in which a contact arm and a resistor card are disposed. The enclosure is preferably filled with a non-conducting fluid, such as light oil. Force of a contact on the contact arm against a commutator or track on the resistor card will be essentially insensitive to influences, such as particle intrusion and fuel slosh, that otherwise might cause momentary open circuits, with contact-to-resistor card force remaining more consistent over the useful life of the sender. Contact-to-resistor card arcing is unlikely, but any arcing that might occur, such as due to a high-G force, will not be exposed to fuel or fuel vapor.
The enclosure is formed by a low permeable casing, or housing, preferably a stainless steel, and a low permeable cover, preferably a non-metallic, fuel-tolerant synthetic material, which may be either transparent or opaque. The housing has a circular back, or rear, wall and a circular perimeter wall that extends forward from and perpendicular to the rear wall. The forward margin of the perimeter wall is crimped over a circular outer edge of the cover to forcefully hold the circular outer margin of the cover against a circular shoulder formed in an intermediate portion of the housing perimeter wall. A sealing gasket that is disposed between the housing shoulder and the cover margin seals the joint between the cover and housing in a manner that prevents both liquid fuel and fuel vapor from intruding into the enclosure interior that is cooperatively formed by the assembled cover and housing. Any method of sealing must take into consideration sealing against fuel vapor, as well as liquid fuel.
When installed within a fuel tank, the sender is disposed in an orientation that places a main center axis of the hub enclosure in a desired orientation. The hub is fixedly mounted in any suitable manner, such as by attachment to a wall of a fuel pump module. A movement actuating member that is external to the sealed enclosure and operated by a fuel level float is positionable relative to the central hub in correspondence with fuel level sensed by the float. As the float moves vertically up and down with changing fuel level in the tank, the movement actuating member is correspondingly positioned in relation to the sealed enclosure.
The contact arm is positioned by a movement within the interior of the sealed enclosure. The movement is supported within the enclosure for turning about the main center axis and forms one portion of a magnetic circuit whose other portion is formed by the movement actuating member. The movement and the movement actuating member are magnetically coupled such that the movement is forced to turn within the enclosure in correspondence with positioning of the movement actuating member relative to the exterior of the enclosure. In this way the movement is forced to follow the actuating member, and hence follow the level of liquid fuel in the tank.
The movement moves the contact arm contact along the commutator, or track on the resistor card to change the resistance that is presented to an electric circuit connected to the sender. In this way, the sender enables the circuit to operate a fuel gauge that indicates to a driver of the motor vehicle the amount of fuel in the tank.
The movement provides the source of magnetism, while the movement actuating member comprises a magnetically conductive material. Turning of the movement actuating member causes substantial follower torque to be applied to the movement, thereby causing the movement to follow the turning of the actuating member with low hysteresis. Those features, in conjunction with the isolation of the commutator, its contact, and the resistor from fuel, enable the sender to perform with consistency and accuracy during the course of its useful life.
The mounting of in-tank fuel senders in mass-produced automotive vehicle fuel tanks results in some tank-to-tank variation in the distance at which a sender is disposed above a bottom wall of a tank. Even when that distance is fairly well controlled by control of the dimensional tolerances of the parts involved, small differences can give rise to significant differences in accuracy of the reading on a fuel gauge that is presented to the driver. The fuel pump module may also change position within the tank during the life of the vehicle due to various effects such as those caused by impact on the vehicle from an external source. Improvements in accuracy of such readings can be important in mass-produced motor vehicles where such vehicles include trip computers having display features such as “miles to empty”.
Various forms of “bottom referencing” have been heretofore proposed. Examples are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,167,156; 5,666,851; and 6,508,121.